Michael Burgess: Stop search for McFadden mentor

Laurie Daley.

Opinion

If the Warriors have faith in the abilities as Andrew McFadden as coach - which they continually say they do - it's probably best that they stop their public search for a mentor.

It's no surprise that Laurie Daley has turned down the opportunity to be involved with the Warriors, as it was never realistic that he was going to.

There is no way that the NSW Rugby League would sanction the coach of the Blues offering formal advice and assistance to the Auckland club. Their board would say that the state coach should be assisting Parramatta, Penrith, Cronulla or any other NSW-based club, rather than a team outside their state.

It was the same with Wayne Smith; as long as he was involved with the New Zealand Rugby Union it was never feasible that he would be allowed to be on the payroll in Penrose.

And Sir Graham Henry was a strange idea; Henry had some great achievements in rugby, but it's hard to see how he could assist McFadden in his present predicament.

There is no doubting the value of a mentor, but the search for one is becoming a bit of a sideshow. McFadden is inexperienced, but he's not a complete rookie; after the round five game against the Roosters, he would have been in the role for exactly two seasons.

He's also got hand-picked assistants like Justin Morgan and Andrew Webster, long time Warriors assistant Tony Iro sitting upstairs and Jim Doyle down the corridor. If McFadden needs to make the occasional phone call to someone else to bounce some ideas around that's fine, but that should be enough feedback.

McFadden has some areas for improvement - his selection, his use of the interchange bench and his inability to get the best out of certain players - but that won't necessarily be solved by another voice in his ear.

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